Explaining Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer to Veterans and Their Families
Explaining Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer to Veterans and Their Families from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
How can non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) be explained to veterans and families? Expert Dr. Michael Kelley from Duke University School of Medicine discusses key points that he communicates to patients and proactive patient advice to help ensure their best care.
[ACT]IVATION TIP
“…for the patient to be sure they understand the histologic type of cancer that they have. So what does it look like under the microscope, and what molecular tests have been done on their tumor, and what do those results look like and how do they impact the different therapies that would be offered to them?”
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Transcript:
Lisa Hatfield:
Dr. Kelley, when explaining advanced non-small cell lung cancer to veterans and their care partners, what approaches or language do you find most effective in ensuring patients fully understand the diagnosis, its implications, and their available treatment options?
Dr. Michael Kelley:
Patients with advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma will usually see a medical oncologist because they’re going to be treated with systemic therapies, which are drugs typically, which are given by vein, sometimes by mouth. When the doctor is analyzing all the data that has been collected to come to the diagnosis, they will have a lot of details, and it’s important to know that there are different types of non-small cell lung carcinoma, and those different types will impact the treatments and sometimes the prognosis.
And also, there is variability in the symptoms that you might experience because of the locations within the body where the cancer has spread. So the really important points for the patient to understand, which are hopefully is communicated in a way from the provider, which is understandable, are, what is the histology? So what does it look like under the microscope? And also what molecular tests have been done on the tumor, and what do those results do in terms of the treatment decisions that are going to be made?
So my activation tip for this question would be for the patient to be sure they understand the histologic type of cancer that they have. So what does it look like under the microscope, and what molecular tests have been done on their tumor, and what do those results look like and how do they impact the different therapies that would be offered to them?
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